Your mortgage rate isn’t everything, unless you’re in the majority of Canadians. A full 60% of those polled said getting the lowest rate possible is the “only thing that matters” when it comes to picking the best mortgage, CIBC found in a recent survey. That mindset is something lenders grapple with daily while trying to differentiate themselves. And with the...
Home equity line of credit (HELOC) balances are growing more than twice as fast as mortgages, shows a new report by CMHC. That will certainly raise more eyebrows in Ottawa. The government has been closely surveillingHELOC riskfor a few years now. Their concern: homeowners are relying too much on HELOCs, taking on debt that’ll slow their consumption in the future...
It turns out, we weren’t sniffing glue by arguing that 47% of mortgages are not up for renewal this year. “Some pundits have been circulating inaccurate information recently,” National Bank Financial (NBF) said in a report Thursday. “One is the affirmation that almost half of Canadian mortgages have been or will be up for renewal this year, suggesting an imminent...
Canadians are more gung-ho than ever to buy a house. RBC’s latest Home Ownership Poll found that nearly a third of Canadians (32%) still expect to buy a home within the next two years. That’s the highest level of homebuying intention Canada has seen since 2010, and up 7% from last year. This is despite a string of new mortgage...
Let’s be clear on one thing. Most bank mortgage specialists are good people who do the right thing. Then, there are the other kind. Consumer watchog, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, is targeting those reps with a cautionary critique of mortgage sales practices at the big banks. The agency is worried that banks may be placing “sales ahead of...
You know the situation is bad when Canadians need to be told by a bank to shop around for mortgage rates. While we at the Spy beat that drum daily, banks are normally happy to sell you mediocre “special offer” rates, or even posted rates (for renewers who are gullible enough). That’s why it’s eye-catching to see Larry Tomei, Executive...
It used to be a lot easier to understand mortgages. But since January 2016 alone, we’ve seen: Minimum down payments increased to 10% for any portion of a mortgage above $500,000 Restrictions on refinancing Rates become much more dependent on: loan-to-value (because of changes to default insurance) amortization credit scores A stress test required for all insured mortgages, using the...
HELOC balances appear to be surging at their fastest pace in five years—even faster than mortgages, reports Bloomberg. That’s got ever-vigilant regulators raising an eyebrow. And it’s got certain lenders we talk to expecting HELOCs to be the next area of mortgage rule tightening. Under the Microscope Currently, 2 in 5 secured residential loans in this country (roughly 3 million)...
Mortgage growth in Canada is like King Kong—it’s hard to kill. You can riddle it with bullets (mortgage rules), but it just keeps beating its chest and roaring on. More than 60 mortgage rule tightenings later (including insurance and securitization fee increases) the question is, has Canada’s mortgage market finally been shot down? Nationally, average home prices are already down...
Would you rather have the lowest mortgage rate or the lowest borrowing cost? If you picked the latter, good for you. You’re mortgage savvy, and you’re in the minority. Check out this chart from a recent Manulife survey.Its findings show that the “interest rate” dominates all other factors when consumers pick a mortgage. That’s great news for a rate comparison...
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